The Basics - Issue 148, May 1989. The front cover has a photo of Anthony Ainley - The Master Is Back! (see below).

News And Views - Anthony Ainley returns as the Master in the third story of Season 26 in Cat-Flap by Rona Munro. Nicholas Courtney will be returning as Alistair Lethbridge Stewart in Storm Over Avallion. Ian Briggs' opening story of the season has now been retitled Curse of Fenric, and will be followed by Storm. The final three parter of the season, written by Marc Platt and provisionally titled The Bestiary, will be partly set on Gallifrey. David Banks has produced a stereo cassette on the history of the Cybermen, based on his Cybermen book. Ray Cusick has a letter published to clarify some points in an article on Special Effects in the recent DWM Anniversary Special, while another reader hypothesises about a letter in issue 270 in 1999 about Season 36!

Preview - An Off The Shelf Extra previews The Official Doctor Who and the Daleks book -"All fans of Doctor Who and the Daleks should pick up this book."

Notables - From this issue, the round up of what people connected with the show are doing now is called Beyond The TARDIS.

Other Regulars - A new three part comic strip, Invaders From Gantac!, begins.

Boxpops - Top of the pop charts in May 89 were the continuing Eternal Flame, Hand On Your Heart by Kylie Minogue and Ferry Cross The Mersey by Various Artists.

Critique - I don't have any particular memories of this issue, as I didn't get to see it until five months later, and then had 5 or 6 issues to look at at the same time! Looking back at the news items, it's fascinating to recall the original story order line up for S26, and indeed to see all the stories referred to with their working titles! When it came to revealing which former characters were returning, they certainly weren't bothered about spoilers either, though I doubt that the term existed then. It's strange to think of a letter predicting events 10 years in the future, given that that is now well in the past! The correspondent was a little out in as much as issue 270 was in fact published in 1998, but let's hope that we eventually get (the equivalent of) Season 36. The comic strip is a mundane "aliens invade the Earth" storyline with a silly resolution.
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